Russia Funds and Conspires With Anti-Fracking Activists

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union was quite generous in financing left-wing activist groups, so as to weaken the West from within. The tradition continues. From the firewalled Financial Times, via NRO:

Russian intelligence agencies are covertly funding and working with European environmental groups to campaign against fracking and maintain EU dependence on Russian gas, the head of Nato has claimed.

Answering questions after a speech in London, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Nato secretary-general, said improving European energy security was of the “utmost importance” and accused Moscow of “blackmail” in its dealings with Europe. “I have met allies who can report that Russia, as part of their sophisticated information and disinformation operations, engaged actively with so-called non-governmental organisations — environmental organisations working against shale gas — to maintain European dependence on imported Russian gas,” Mr Rasmussen, former Danish prime minister, told an audience at Chatham House, the international affairs think-tank. . . .

The 28-nation EU bloc depends on Russia for about a third of its oil and gas needs but has significant shale gas reserves that could permanently curb its high dependence on imports.

It is important that these reserves remain unexploited, so that no one in Europe will be in a position to complain very loudly if Putin decides to annex a few more of his neighbors, like he recently did to the Crimea.

Just like Vietnam Era peace activists (e.g., John Kerry) and American Communist Party members (e.g., Obama’s mentor Frank Marshall Davis), the environmentalist moonbats doing Putin’s bidding by standing in the way of energy development are the friends of Russia but the enemies of their own countries – whether witting or unwitting hardly matters.